Safety-belts have proved successful in preventing injury and death to vehicle occupants resulting from vehicle accidents. However, safety-belts can pose a risk to vehicle occupants if not easily releasable after an accident or during an emergency. For instance, a safety-belt lock release may be rendered inoperable from damage sustained during an accident. In serious accidents the vehicle occupant or crushed parts of the vehicle may impede access to the safety-belt lock release. The wrecked vehicle may also be resting on its roof, thereby inhibiting access to the safety-belt lock release.
In all of these situations, the vehicle occupant is effectively trapped in the vehicle if the safety-belt cannot be released. Such trapping is extremely dangerous when the vehicle occupant is in need of immediate medical attention, or when the risk of vehicle fire exists after an accident.
To release such a trapped occupant, devices such as heavy-duty scissors or knives may be used to sever an unreleasable safety-belt. However, such devices are not usually available to the trapped occupant or would-be rescuers immediately after an accident.
To solve this problem, cutting devices have been developed which attach directly and permanently to a safety-belt. Such devices are useable by either the trapped occupant or a rescuer to sever a locked safety-belt to free the occupant. Unfortunately, such cutting devices have not proved completely satisfactory in severing safety-belts in all situations. For instance, if the safety-belt is not taut, the safety-belt tends to wrinkle within such cutting devices during the cutting operation. Such wrinkling tends to jam the cutting devices to prevent or slow the severing of the safety-belt.
In light of the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a safety-belt cutter that mounts directly to a safety-belt and is conveniently operable to quickly sever the safety-belt, regardless of the tension in the safety-belt.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a compact, inexpensive, durable and lightweight safety-belt cutter that mounts directly to a safety-belt.
In accordance with one preferred embodiment of the invention, an emergency safety-belt cutter is provided with frame having an opening. A slide is disposed within the frame opening for receiving and closely supporting the safety-belt. The slide constrains the safety-belt to keep the safety-belt from wrinkling during the cutting movement of said blade. A cutting blade having a cutting edge is attached to the frame and protrudes into the opening. The blade engages and cuts the safety-belt supported in the slide upon movement of said frame transversely over said safety-belt. Furthermore, a guard means is detachably secured to the frame to prevent cutting the safety-belt during inadvertent pulling of the frame. The guard means includes a sheath positioned in front of the cutting blade cutting edge to protectively sheath the blade. The guard means is detachable from the frame to unsheathe the cutting edge to permit cutting of the safety belt.
Other aspects of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the description of the invention, which is presented by way of example and not as a limitation of the present invention.